Improvement in tags for marking animals



Patented July 30,1878.

N PETERS, PHOTQLITMOGRAFHER. WASHINGTON. :D4 C.

UNITED STATES-PATENT QFFIOE.

CHARLES HOUSUM, OF DECATUR, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT IN TAGS FOR MARKING ANIMALS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 206,569, dated July 30,1878; application filed June 18, 1878.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES P. HoUsUM, ot' Decatur, in the county ofMacon and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvementin Tags for Marking Animals, Sac.; and the following is a full, clear,and eX- act description of the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, making a part of this speciiication, in which-Figure l represents a front view ot' the tag with embossed charactersthereon. Fig. 2 represents the same with some of the embossed characterserased. Figs. 3 and 4 represent in side view the same tag in connection,respectively, with a triangular link and a circular wire ring.

My invention relates to that class of animalmarking devices in which apatent has been granted to myselfl and H. 1V. Hill on the 11th of June,1878, consisting ot' a device composed ofa tag and connecting-link andpinchers to secure them to an animal. In this class of devices, of whicha large number may be used, if eieient, it is important to reduce theprimary weight and cost of the metal without diminishin g its efficacy,and also to improve the form, so as to facilitate its adaptation anduse.

Having this object in view, my invention consists in a sheet-metal tagformed of an oblong plate having a perforation adjacent to one of itsends and a groove or crescent perforation cut out of the edge of itsopposite end, and provided with a series of figures or charactersembossed thereon, as will be described hereinafter.

In the drawings, A represents an oblong sheet-metal tag, perforatedcentrally at a adjacent to one of its ends, and formed with a groove, b,eut out of the edge of its opposite end, so as to receive and hold inposition over the central portion of the tag a wire link, c, or ring c',without requiring said link or ring to be introduced consecutivelythrough two round holes of a tag-an operation that becomes difficult it'any one of the links is slightly changed in form from the others. Eachtag is provided with a series ot' characters, one or more of which canbe punched out or erased to form various combinations to suit dierentowners. rlhese characters can be marked, impressed, or embossed at thesame time that the tag is formed, and the openings a and b can also beformed at the same time or afterward, if so desired.

To attach the improved tag to an animals ear, the link c is preferable,as it lies at upon the tag; but a circular ring, c', formed of wire,with beveled ends, can also be used with the same tag by forming it soas to have its interior diameter, when closed, equal to the distancebetween the perforations a b.

Having now fully described my invention, I claim- A sheet-metal tagstamped and embossed with gures or characters, and formed of an oblongplate having a pert'oratioi'l, a, adjacent to one of its ends, and agroove or crescent perforation cutout of the edge of the opposite end,through both of which a lilik or ring is to pass, substantially as andfor the purpose described.

CHARLES l. IIOUSUM.

XVitnesscs:

THEO. COLEMAN, JOHN S. Brxnv.

